Sam stood at the window washing the dishes from dinner gazing away at the town below. It was barely sundown and the entire town was complete dark except for a few lamps that lit the main street. Talk about a dead town thought Sam, not even a bar open. Sam looked back at her dishes but quickly looked up again. She swore she just saw something move past the window. Probably just a bird, Sam thought as she went back to her task.

Elsenor and Sebastian lay together in bed, both flush from another night of lovemaking. Elsenor softly kissed Sebastian, " I'm going to have a bath" she whispered.
" Okay" said Sebastian, slowly drifting off to sleep.
Elsenor got up and stretched her wings, she would have to get Sebastian to massage her wings when she got back, he really had the magical touch. Elsenor slipped her robe on and walked out of their room. She slowly walked down the hall and into the bathroom. Elsenor slowly stroked the runes to warm the water in the tub.

Ziu heard a knock at her door, " Enter" she said.
Gabriel walked in carrying a tray of food, " I thought you would like something to eat?" he suggested.
She nodded, " I have been getting rather tired of my traveling rations" she said.
He set the tray down, " Thank you" she said.
Ziu began to eat, " Not bad" she said.
" I'll make sure to tell the cook, she think of it as a compliment" said Gabriel.
Ziu smiled for the first time, it felt good to smile after so long. Gabriel smiled back, this woman was extremely beautiful and exotic.
The peace and quiet of the meal was shattered with the sound of a loud crash in the bathroom. They both raced into the bathroom and saw men wrapped in dark cloaks hauling an unconscious Elsenor out the window. Ziu pulled her hand back as fire began to channel into the palm of her, but her hand was grabbed by Gabriel before she could throw the fireball. They raced to the window as saw several men carrying Elsenor into the town before darkness consumed them.

The crew was in the galley ready for war in five minutes. " Okay" said Sebastian, " we're going to get Elsenor back, even if we have to have bust every head in town."
Ziu walked into the galley, " I'm coming too" said Ziu, " this is partially my fault and I want to help make it right."
" So how are we going to get Elsenor back?" asked Alexis.
" We could fire a couple of cannon shots into town, it sure would get there attention" said Tanis.
" I think I have a better plan" said Ziu, " Faeries are magical creatures, I can locate her with little difficulty."
" Do you think that is why they took her?" asked Sam, " some sort of sacrifice?"
" Most likely" said Ziu.
" We best hurry" said Sebastian, " I somehow doubt Elsenor likes being taken prisoner."
They walked on deck and Ziu slowly chanted a spell as she stretched her hands out. Her hands glowed blue and one finger slowly pointed deep into the town. " She is being held inside a building" said Ziu.
" Alright let's split up" said Sebastian, " Audrey, Alexis I want you two to look for a replacement rune stone, if not I want you to get the ship ready. I doubt the townsfolk were telling the truth to us."
" No problem" said Audrey, " if its here we'll find one."
" The rest of us will divide into two groups and get Elsenor back" said Sebastian.
" That is your plan?" asked Sam, " we just stroll into town and ask?"
" No, we just going to see how much trouble we can stir up while Gabriel and Ziu sneak around and rescue her" said Sebastian.
" That sounds like a better plan" said Sam, " let's go make some trouble."
Gabriel and Ziu slipped over the side of the flying deck and hit the ground silently. Ziu pointed at an alley and the pair quickly snuck into the alley.

Sebastian, Tanis, Elanna, and Sam casually strolled down the main street. They were all armed and made no effort to hide the fact that they were armed. People were staring out the windows at them before quickly disappearing into their homes. They reached half way between from their ship and the other end of town when some of the town elders emerged. " What do you want?" asked one.
" One of our crew has disappeared" said Sebastian, " we are looking for her."
" We'll do anything we can" said another, these guys were terrible liars, " let's go meet with Hallis to see if he can help."
Sebastian could smell this was a trap, it smelled so heavy it reeked, but if anybody made off with Elsenor it was him.

Audrey and Alexis carefully lifted the window and crawled into the store room. They carefully took their glowstones out and began to scan the room. It was a dull work room, but both thieves knew something was right. All their thief senses told them there was more to this room. They started to search the room and zeroed in on the floor underneath the workbench. Sure enough there was a trap door that led to a staircase. The pair scampered down the stairs on all fours using their glowstones to illuminate the room. At the bottom of the stairs was a tunnel that led down a long dark hall. " Should we?" asked Audrey.
" Absolutely" said Alexis, " this might lead to some serious treasure."
" That was my thought too" said Audrey, " just wanted to make sure that you wouldn't whine."
The pair started down the long tunnel, shining their glowstones far down the tunnel trying to see the end but where unable. They continued down the tunnel which seemed to go on forever until after nearly twenty minutes they entered into a massive storeroom. Both Catakas whistled at the sight of the supplies they saw before them. " Look at all this" said Alexis, " what are they doing with so much stuff?"
Audrey picked up a large collection of belt buckles, " I have a sneaking suspicion that these quaint townsfolk have a second profession" she said.
" Audrey" hissed Alexis.
Audrey turned and saw Alexis' tail twitching from around a corner. Audrey scurried around the corner and purred herself. Sitting on a shelf were several Runestones, " Let's grab it and hurry back so we can get the others" said Audrey.
The pair picked up the first Runestone and started to carry the first Runestone for the ship.

Gabriel and Ziu slipped through the back alleys silent as the dead. Ziu's glowing hand leading the way through the twisting alleys until they came to a large building. " She is in there" said Ziu.
Gabriel knelt down and put his hands together, Ziu looked at him and slowly floated up and through the window. Gabriel shook his head and leapt up to the window and pulled himself through. The pair found themselves inside a sitting room. The door across the room was closed but they could hear worried voices coming from the other side. Ziu and Gabriel snuck across the room to the door and both pressed their ears to the door. " We can't" protested Hallis, " they are coming to this house, we can't start the ceremony with them inside."
" We can't wait" snapped a deep authoritative voice, " you wanted the power Zentarth gives you, you can't just follow the rites when they suit you. With that Faerie's powers Zentarth will be extremely powerful and those foolish mercenaries won't be able to do anything against it. Where is the winged bitch anyways?"
" She is upstairs" said Hallis, " our men had a hard time keeping her unconscious with the Moon Blossom, we used three bottles to finally knock her out."
" Idiot!" snapped the deep voice, " the sacrifice must be conscious or Zentarth will not accept her as a sacrifice. Fine, you go keep the mercenaries busy I will have her taken into the temple."
" Yes" said Hallis.
The pair ducked to opposite sides of the door as they listened to footsteps walking past them. Ziu pointed upstairs and Gabriel nodded. Gabriel carefully opened the door and looked out. He could see the bloated creep Hallis walking for the front door and a mysterious man in a long dark cloak heading up the stairs. Gabriel and Ziu slipped out of the sitting room into the safety of the shadow of the staircase as they watched Hallis lumbered towards the door.

The door to the mayor's house opened and a very sweaty Hallis appeared. " Hello" he said, looking like a holiday roast sweating in the oven, " what seems to be the problem?"
" One of our crew was abducted" said Sebastian, tapping the hilt of his sword, " and we were wondering if you knew anything about that?"
" What? We? No" said Hallis, " we have been having bandit trouble for some months now but they never have attacked into the village before. Oh my this is troubling, please come in and we can organize a search."
Hallis led the group of heavily armed mercenaries into his study and offered them a place to sit by his warm roaring hearth. " Now tell me what happened?" asked Hallis.
" She was kidnapped this evening by men in black" said Tanis, his words dripping with accusation, his eyes burning at Hallis, his hands stroking his large warhammer, " they made a beeline straight for this house."
" Impossible" said Hallis, sweating worse, " I am no bandit, I am the mayor. How do I know this isn't some scheme by you mercenaries to extort money from us."
" Now, now" said Elanna, playing her role as peacemaker, " let's sit and talk this over, there is no need for violence."
Tanis looked at Elanna and gruffed, " My Dwarven friend is a tad temperamental" said Elanna, " now where are these bandits located."
" They dwell in the caves outside of town" said Hallis, " at first light we can go searching for her, it is too dangerous to go now."

Audrey and Alexis struggled down the tunnel hauling their fifth load of supplies. " This is only fair" remarked Audrey, " they stole this from other crews, it is only fair we steal it from them."
" Too bad none of these ships were full of gold or jewels" said Alexis.
" Or Cataka Root, we haven't had any good Cataka Root in months" said Audrey.
" Yah because last time you destroyed our yarn ball when you thought it was a giant rat" said Alexis.
" Oh yah, I sorta remember that" said Audrey, " but we got a new one."
" Wonder how the others are doing?" asked Alexis.

Gabriel and Ziu slowly crept up the stairs and slipped down the hall. They came to the back bedroom where light was pouring out from under the bottom of the door. They crept up to the door and carefully pushed it open.
Elsenor inside, laying unconscious on the bed, the man in the black cloak was over her. He was chanting something, painting Elsenor with thick red blood.
Gabriel started to draw his sword when he felt a hand over his. He looked up to see Ziu shaking her head. She carefully slipped her hand inside the room and drew back a huge statue from an alcove in the room. Gabriel slowly opened the door and let Ziu quietly slip in. She raised the statue and smashed the statue over the man's head dropping on the bed, smearing the blood that covered Elsenor's nude body. The pair entered the room and over to Elsenor. Ziu picked the body off her and tossed him on the floor with a thump. " She is unconscious" said Gabriel.
Ziu reached into her cloak and drew out a bottle with some clear liquid in it. She popped the cap and poured the liquid down her throat. Elsenor stirred and sat up, " I feel awful" said Elsenor, " and why am I naked?"
" These villagers wanted to do something to you" said Gabriel, " and judging by the paint I think they were planning to sacrifice you."
" Me?" asked Elsenor, " this is the last time I let you land in some backwater city again."
" Let's just get out of here" said Ziu, " I don't want to extend our welcome."
They turned to leave, what they didn't see was that the man on the floor had started to move. He slowly slipped a dagger from his cloak and leapt to his feet.
Gabriel saw him move from the corner of his eye and lifted his sword, still in its scabbard up to block. The man's arm slammed into the scabbard and the dagger dropped from his hand. Gabriel hit the man in the face with the hilt of his sword and watched the hood fly back. They all looked in shock as the man had milky scales instead of flesh covering his body. He smiled, blood trickling from his lips, " You think you can hurt me?" he asked.
" Maybe I can't kill you, it doesn't stop me from making you wish you were dead" said Gabriel.
Ziu hit him with a large fireball that slammed him through the wall and sent his burning body down onto a roof of a neighboring house.

Everyone in the study leapt to their feet when they heard the loud crash upstairs. Everyone turned to look at Hallis who now looked like he was about to die. He reached into his pocket just as Tanis rushed at him with his warhammer raised and drew out a round object the size of an eyeball and threw it to the floor. A great flash of light exploded from the floor blinding everyone in the room. They heard Tanis crash into the bookcase and swear loudly.

Ziu, Gabriel and Elsenor hurried down the stairs and found the other slowly stumbling out of the study, " We got her" said Gabriel.
" Great, great" said Sebastian, " now can somebody get these stars out of my eyes."
" What is going on?" asked Elsenor, " one moment I was taking a bath, next thing I knew a bunch of scaly guys are stuffing rags full of Moon Blossom in my face. Who are those guys, I mean they really need some lotion."
" I think they've taken Wurm Blood" said Ziu, " which makes me think they worship a Wurm somewhere, we have to find it."
" A Wurm, you mean the sorta never was Dragon?" asked Sam.
" Indeed" said Ziu, " some worship these evil snakes and draw blood from them so they can achieve some immortality."
" Okay fine, I'm all for stomping some worm ass" said Tanis, " but where do we find him?"
" The caves outside of town" said Elanna, " the mayor gave us a hint without really knowing it."
" Let's go" said Ziu, " if your Faerie was the intended sacrifice the time is drawing near and the Wurm will awaken."
" My name is Elsenor" she replied curtly.
" And what happens then?" asked Tanis, no one taking notice of Elsenor.
" The same thing that happens when your stubby friend here wakes up without breakfast" said Ziu.
" My name is Tanis" said Tanis, " better men than you have died for calling me stubby."
Again no one noticed the complaint. " We're in trouble' said Sebastian, " come on, lets go hunting."